'Culture Train' links Germany and Poland

Deutsche Welle
8 January 2023 (Germany)

This train service from Berlin to Wroclaw is more than a means of transportation — it also offers a culture program.

The "Culture Train" between the German capital, Berlin, and the southwestern city of Wroclaw in Poland has been on the move since 2016. The trip between the cities on the Spree and Oder rivers takes 4 1/2 hours — plenty of time to inform passengers about the culture that awaits them at the end of their journey and provide them with entertainment. On board, passengers encounter writers, musicians, creative artists, a library and a permanent exhibition.

The project was originally designed for a six-month period, but it was so successful that it was never discontinued. It has become a respected institution that is known far beyond the German-Polish border region.

Poland, Berlin cooperate to boost culture

Rafal Dutkiewicz, former mayor of Wroclaw, said he was one of the driving forces behind the idea. "Someone from city hall came up with a name right away: 'Pociag do kultury' — Culture Train," he said, adding that the aim was to develop Poland's cooperation with Berlin and the state of Brandenburg in the culture sector while at the same time reviving a train link between the two cities that had been discontinued two years earlier.

On the German side, a "group of young creative people" played a major role in putting the idea into action and aiding its success, he said.

Long before the project was launched, Ewa Strozczynska-Wille, who specializes in theater and German studies, and Natalie Wasserman, a translator, got together with director and producer Oliver Spatz to work toward this joint German-Polish endeavor. Spatz, who was director of the Kleist Forum in Frankfurt an der Oder from 2015 to 2016, is still project manager for the Culture Train.

"We'd had the idea of offering culture on a train for quite some time," said Wasserman. When Wroclaw was chosen as European Capital of Culture in 2016, that was a unique opportunity to make a dream come true, she said, adding that a "conglomeration of ideas" had come together.

Maiden trip sold out 

When the Culture Train set off on its maiden voyage from Berlin's Lichtenberg station on April 30, 2016, Spatz's team held their breath. "We were afraid that no one would take the train because of the long journey," he recalled.

In the end, they were taken completely by surprise. "Many more people wanted to travel than we could fit," he said. "We had planned a capacity of 420 seats. After two weeks, every seat was sold. That blew us away."

The organizers had faced the difficult challenge of coming up with a cultural program that appealed to a wide range of people. They devised a basic scheme aimed at a broad audience, with a quiz and a mobile library on board. Passengers were asked simple questions, such as giving the number of states or voivodeships in both countries. "The point was to get people talking with one another," Wasserman remembered.

Source
https://www.dw.com/en/polandberlin-cooperate-to-boost-culture/a-64288376